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Clearance, Touching, and Bracing: What You Need to Know
This article applies specifically to rear-facing car seats. A common question about car seat fit has to do with how much space there needs to be between a rear-facing child restraint and the backs of the front vehicle seats. The answer is extremely simple to explain in just two short words: "It Depends." Some child restraints require a certain amount of clearance, for example "an inch and a half" or "enough space to shine a light through." Some child restraints can gently touch the vehicle seats as long as you can slide a piece of paper between the restraint and the seat back without tearing it, and the angle of the child restraint is not affected. Still other seats can be braced, which means you can shove the restraint into your vehicle seat if you need to in order to make it fit - but there typically is still a limit (such as "must not lift the child restraint off the vehicle seat on which it's installed"). To make matters more complicated, different vehicles may have different rules about touching or bracing. Usually this isn't an issue in older cars, but many late-model vehicles in the US have advanced air bag sensors in the front vehicle seats. These sensors may not function properly if excess weight or force is applied to the vehicle seat by a rear-facing child restraint (or any other object). If your car DOES NOT have advanced air bags, then you should be able to brace or touch a car seat in your vehicle as long as the car seat allows it. Check the manual that comes with your car seat, and if it does not mention anything one way or the other, then either err on the side of caution and do not let it touch, or call the manufacturer for clarification. It is commonly accepted that Britax seats can gently touch, and Diono (formerly Sunshine Kids) seats may braced; however the manuals are not clear on this point and it would be wise to check with the manufacturers yourself to make sure, as their advice may change with new data or new models of child restraint. If your car DOES have advanced air bags, it does not necessarily mean a car seat cannot touch or be braced. Some vehicles have sensors in the seat back, and others have them under the vehicle seat. In some cases, objects pressing against the backs of the vehicle seats do not interfere with the sensors. This varies from one manufacturer to the next, and in some cases one model or even model year to the next. It is therefore vitally important for you to familiarize yourself with your own unique vehicle. We hope to get direct quotes from various child restraint manufacturers to include on this page. In the meantime, read the manual for your child restraint. If the issue of clearance, touching, or bracing is not clear in the manual, call the manufacturer and double-check. Also carefully read your vehicle manual, paying special attention to the dire warnings in the sections that pertain to vehicle air bag systems as well as the chapter on installing child restraints. If you don't have a lot of front-to-back space in your vehicle, pay special attention to these issues when you are selecting your child restraint.